What is the correct rhythm of the canter in dressage?

The correct canter in dressage is a three-beat gait with a clear moment of suspension, in which the footfall sequence on the left lead is: right hind, then left hind and right fore together as the second beat, then left fore as the leading leg — followed by the moment of suspension when all four legs are off the ground before the sequence repeats. The three distinct beats, each clearly separated by a brief interval, followed by the suspension, produce the characteristic rocking quality of the canter that distinguishes it from the other gaits and that is most clearly heard as three footfalls followed by a pause when the horse canters on a hard surface. The leading leg in a correctly cantered circle should correspond to the inside leg — left fore on the left rein, right fore on the right rein — and the canter should show a genuine moment of suspension that gives it its characteristic jump and elasticity. A correct canter shows the horse's inside hind leg stepping well under the body to push off with power, the back swinging with the characteristic rocking motion of the gait, and the overall impression of a gait with genuine upward spring rather than a flat, running quality. The loss of the canter's three-beat sequence — the development of a four-beat canter in which the second beat's diagonal pair loses its simultaneity — is one of the most significant training problems in collection work, because the compression of the stride and the increased weight carried by the hindquarters sometimes causes the horse to break the second beat's diagonal into two separate footfalls. A four-beat canter is always a problem requiring attention because it indicates either insufficient impulsion, incorrect collection, or tension that has disrupted the gait's fundamental mechanics.